“If you’re invested in making Elvis an avatar for racial resentments more than 40 years after his death, you’re, perhaps unwittingly, making the problems of contemporary divisions worse,” columnist Mark Hemingway wrote.

“Music is one of a precious few cultural forces still holding us together.”

Liberals have also protested Trump’s award for Adelson, the wife of GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.

The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called the award to Adelson “ludicrous” and an “insult to people who received the medal for genuine service.”

Krugman said she’s “done nothing for her country besides being the wife of a Trump-friendly megadonor.”

Some thoughts on giving Miriam Adelson, who has done nothing for her country besides being the wife of a Trump-friendly megadonor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Of course it's ludicrous, and an insult to people who received the medal for genuine service. But ... 1/

According to the White House, Adelson is a “committed doctor, philanthropist, and humanitarian.”

“She has practiced internal and emergency medicine, studied and specialized in the disease of narcotic addiction, and founded two research centers committed to fighting substance abuse,” the White House said in a statement.

“With her husband, Sheldon, she also established the Adelson Medical Research Foundation, which supports research to prevent, reduce, or eliminate disabling and life-threatening illness.

"As a committed member of the American Jewish community, she has supported Jewish schools, Holocaust memorial organizations, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and Birthright Israel, among other causes.”

Miriam Adelson is one of seven people who will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

The award ceremony is set to take place Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Ahead of Friday’s ceremony, the White House said, “This prestigious award is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, which may be awarded by the President to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”